Garment pressing machine



March 5, 1935.

H. G. BEEDE 1,993,335

GARMENT PRESSING MACHINE Filed May 21, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet l i K" I] J3J5 flat) 50 0 5'5 1 I 2? 3/ 3 as Q ml 5 4 5/ f Hen JnfG. Beede INVENTORATTORNEY March 5, 1935. H. G. BEEDE GARMENT PRESSING MACHINE Filed May21, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Herbert Beede INVENTOR M W ATTORNEY March 5,1935. G, BEEDE 1,993,335

GARMENT PRES SING MACHINE Filed May 21, 1931 4 sheets-sheet s F 4Herbert G- \Beede INVENTOR ATTORNEY March 5, 1935. H. G. BEEDE 1,993,335

GARMENT PRES SING MACHINE Filed May 21, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FRI-:65OPEN INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 5, 1935 1,993,335

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARMENT PRESSING MACHINE Herbert G. Beetle,Pawtucket, It. 1.

Application May 21, 1931, Serial No. 539,089

8 Claims. (Cl. 68-9) My invention relates to garment pressing matheabove purposes which may be readily rechines for use in tailoring, drycleaning, laundermoved from the press for repair or replacement; ing,clothing manufacturing and other establishand the provision of a checkin which the wear ments for steaming, shaping and pressing garmay bereadily taken up and which is easily admerits, and the invention relatesmare particularly justable for controlling the checking action; and 5 tomeans for actuating and controlling movein which the friction orbreaking means are selfments of the movable pressing element or member.centering.

The principal object of the invention is to pro- Other objects andadvantages oi. the invention vide in a machine of the above type, meansfor will be brought out and become apparent during producing heavierpressure than is available in the course of the following detaildescription of 10 machines now in use for the same purpose by theaccompanying drawings wherein is illustrated comparatively slight efiortand with avery limited a preferred embodiment of the invention and inmotion of the actuating foot pedal. In connection which, with theaccomplishment of this object I provide Fig. 1 is a side elevation P yin S cti n 0f a connection between the foot pedal lever and the a a t pn m h e with th invention v15 primary link of the first toggle to affordan easy pp d t th ma b in shown in start in closing the press by anarrangement closed position; under which the action or relativemovements of Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showin th mathe pedallever and connection is the reverse of chine in p P t o 2 closing toggleaction when t foot, pedal is Fig. 3 is a central horizontal sectionalview moved to close the press, and under which arthrough he frictionCheek; rangement the final motion or direction of pull Fig. 4 is a sideelevation of the friction check when the head is practically closed willbe at ap- With a Portion of the housing broken away a d proximatelyright angles to the foot pedal lever. Showing the connection With thetoggle; and

Another object of the invention is to provide a e 5 is a diagrammatic vew ustrating the 25 machine of the above character and provided checkingt with a system of triple toggle leverages in which Referring to tdrawings, the numeral 0 all of the secondary links of the toggles act atdesignates the main Supporting rame of the maapproximately right anglest t direction of chine having an upright extension 11. The lower motion,pressing element or buck 12 is mounted at the 30 Another object of theinvention is to provide a from? of the frame and a ab e 13 is mountedself-alining thrust bearing for the primary link on e frame convenientto the buck The uppe of t t toggle t prevent binding where a pressingelement or head 14 is carried on the raiity of swinging joints are to bealined. swinging arm 15 Which is p voted on the exten- Another object oft invention is to provide sion 11 at 16 and to the rear end of which isse- 85 suitable counterbalanced toggle members to refilmed acounterweight A toggle member 18 turn the upper pressing element to'open position 15 Operatively connected to the arm 15 and is when ttoggles are broken pivotally connected at 19 to the upper end of theAnother object of the invention is to provide main toggle lever 20 whichis pivoted on the in connection t teggie operated pressing frame 10 at21. The head 14 is operated to move 40 chines a rebound check which actsto retard the ward the buck 12 under very great p essure and upwardmotion of t head so t t immediately with comparatively slight effortthrough the arupen opening t press under heavy pressure the rangement oftoggle links connected between the rebound checkswill become operativeto absorb main toggle ve 0 and the foot lever 22 which the suddenrelease of rebound force when unis pivoted at one end to the frame at 3,a pedal 45 latching the press or breaking the toggle and then 24 beingprovided a its Oute end. to gradually check further opening motion ofthe he system of tog through which the g eat head in accordance with theaction of the levers p ssu is obtained p s s a link 25 conandcounterbalancing weights. nected to the pedal lever 22 at 26 and to theAnother object of the invention is to provide a primary link 27 at 28 insuch a manner that 50 rebound cl. ;k of the above character which iswhen the press is closed as shown in Fig. 1, the inoperative duringclosing of the press when the link 25 is disposed at Substa y ght angleshead moves downward to the buck. to the pedal lever 22 with the pivots26 and 28 Cther objects of the invention include the proalined in aplane substantially at right angles vision of a check of the abovecharacter and for to the pedal lever 22 and when the press is open,

the pivots 26 and 28 are alined in a plane intersecting the lever 22approximately at an angle of 45 degrees. It will be apparent that therelative positions and movements of the pedal lever 22 and link 25 aresuch that their action during closing of the press affords an easy startto move-'- ment of the parts about to be described.

The primary link 27 is pivoted at 30 to the self-alining thrust bearing29, which will be hereinafter described in details of construction andpurpose, and to one end of the secondary link 31 of the first toggle at32. It will be noted that in the open position of the press, the pivot32 is in the same plane with the pivots 26 and 28 to the left of pivot28, but that in closed position it is at the right of pivots 26 and 28having swung through an arc thereacross during closing of the press. Thesecondary link 31 of the first toggle is provided with a counterweight33 at its other end and is pivoted at 34 to the primary link 35 of thesecond toggle, which is pivoted at 36 to the frame 10 and which isprovided at one end with a counterweight 37. The secondary link 38 ofthe second toggle is pivotally connected to the primary link 35 at 39and to the main lever 20 at 40.

The parts 15, 18, 20, 38 and 35 in both open and closed position of themachine are disposed in the same relative positions in which thecorresponding parts are disposed in the patent to H. G. Beede, No.1,661,153, but in that patent the link corresponding to the link 35 isconnected to the pedal lever by a single link which only exerts a directpull on the part corresponding to lever 35. Under the presentarrangement, much greater pressure is obtained on the upper pressingelement by the system of triple toggles arranged as described above andas will be obvious the operation is accomplished with much less efforton the foot pedal 24. The present invention can be applied to .machinesembodying structure similar to that disclosed in the above identifiedpatent.

In order to lock the head closed for continued pressure on the garmentsdisposed between the head and buck, the first toggle, parts 27 and 31,may be so adjusted as shown in the drawings whereby they assume aposition in which the pivot 32 moves beyond a line between the pivots 30and 34. This is the preferred manner of looking the press closed forcontinued pressure, andin order to break the toggle lock and open thepress, I provide an independent trip pedal 41 adjacent the foot pedal24. This trip pedal 41 is fulcrumed to the frame 10 at 42. An extension43 on the foot lever 22 is disposed immediately above the inner end ofthe trip pedal 41 when the press is locked in closed position as shownin Fig. 1 and in order to break the toggle between links 27 and 31, theoperator depresses the outer end of the trip pedal 41 with sufiicientforce to lift the inner end against the extension 43 to raise the footlever 22 sufficient to carry the pivot 32 above the line between pivots30 and 34 following which the counterweights 17, 37 and 33 will move theparts to which they are attached to carry the head 14 upwardly andreturn the links to the position shown in Fig. 2.

The thrust bearing 29 comprises a preferably round shaft flattened atone end around the pivot 30 where it is joined to the primary lever 27.The thrust bearing is mounted within the recess 60 and is rotatablysecured therein by means of the bolt and nut 61. It will be obvious thatthe thrust bearing takes its thrust against the end of the recess 60 andcan partially rotate in recess 60. Thus the primary lever 27 beingconnected to the movable thrust bearing instead of to afixed pivot onthe frame, there will be no binding when the links are operated to closeand open the toggles to move the head 14 to and from the buck 12 in themanner which will be obvious from the foregoing description.

In order to check the return ofthe head 14 to open position againstsudden and jarring movement, I provide the friction check 50, which isshown in detail in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, and which comprises the housing 51having a flange 52 engageable around the opening 53 in the front of theframe 10 and secured to the frame by bolts 54. The forked lever 55 ispivotally connected to the casing 51 at 56 and is operatively associatedwith friction check mechanism within the casing and hereinafterdescribed in detail. The link 35 has an extension 57 provided with theroller or lug 58 which is embraced between the forks of the lever 55 sothat as the extension 57 moves with the link 35 upwardly and as thepress fulcrums, it turns the arm 55 on shaft 56 and operates thefriction check mechanism within the casing 51. Shaft 56 is removablyheld in the casing by the cotter pin 56'.

As has been mentioned, the arm 57 of the link 35 is provided with a lugor roller 58 which is disposed between the arms 63 of the lever 55, thelever having spaced arms 64 which are journaled on the shaft 56 throughthe housing 51 for oscillating movement as shown in dotted lines in Fig.4. A pawl 65 is pivoted to the lever 55 at 66 and bears against a spring67 which. is mounted between the pawl and an extension 68 of the lever55. The ratchet wheel 69 is journaled on the shaft 56 and is reduced oneach face as at 70 to provide seats for the brake discs 71 outside ofwhich are the friction plates 72, each including a circular platemounted on the shaft 56 and an integral offset extension 73 outside ofthe lever arms 64. Screws 73' hold the friction plates against rotation.One plate 72 has a rib 74 formed diametrically thereacross abutting onesurface of a forked lever 75 which is pivotally mounted on the housingat opposite points on rods 76, 77. The adjusting screw 78 has screwthreaded engagement through an opening in a boss 79 on the housing andabuts a spring 80 seated in a recess 81 in the lever 75.

When the press is in open position, the pawl 65 is in the full lineposition shown in Fig. 4 and as the press head is moved to closedposition, the arm 57 swings downwardly to carry the roller or lug 58through the are shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, during which time thepawl 65 is moved downwardly with the lever 55 across the ratchet teethso that none of the parts within the housing except the lever arms 64move. However, when the press is opened the arm 57 swings up carryingthe lug or roller 58 through-the same are thereby carrying the lever 55up with the pawl 65 engaged against one of the ratchet teeth on theratchet wheel 69 whereby the ratchet wheel is rotated against thefriction discs 71.

It should be apparent from the foregoing description and the disclosureof the drawings that the friction discs, the arms 64-of the lever 55 andthe friction plates and ratchet wheel are all carried on the shaft 56and are free to move endwise of the shaft so that pressure applied bythe lever 75 on the rib 54 at opposite points of the shaft 56 producesequal pressure on both brake discs and on both sides of each brake disc.This pressure can be adjusted, that is, increased or diminished byadjustment of the screw '78 relative to the spring 80 so that if themachine,

is delivered in properly adjusted condition and the arm 15 returns toopen position at a properly regulated speed due to proper adjustment ofthe friction check and then due to wear on the brake discs, the arm 15returns to open position too fast, the screw 78 can be readily adjusteduntil the proper braking is had. It should also be obvious that thebrake discs can be readily replaced, as the friction check housing isremovable from the frame 10 simply by removing the bolts 54 andwithdrawing the shaft 56 to permit removal of the old brake discs andinsertion-of new ones. In fact any of the parts of the friction checkcan be readily replaced in the same manner.

As has been explained, when the foot pedal 24 is depressed, the lever 22pulls on the link 25, which in turn pulls the primary lever 2'7 from theposition of Fig. 2 to the position of Fig. 1, wherein the pivot 32passes a line through the center of pivots 30 and 34 and during whichmovement arm 15 is moved by the toggle members 18, 20, 35 and 31 toclosed position. Of course, the weights 1'7, 3'7 and 33 have been raisedand are held in raised position by the locking action of the togglelinks 27 and 31 due to the location of the pivot 32 beyond the linethrough pivots 30 and 34. When the press is to be opened, the trip pedal41 is operated against the extension 43 "to break the toggle lock andpermit the Weights 17, 3'7 and 33 to return the toggles to the positionof Fig. 2 while raising the head 14. The action of the friction checktakes place to absorb the sudden release of rebound force almostimmediately upon or simultaneously with the breaking of the togglejoints to permit the weights to return the head to open position becauseas soon as the toggle joints are broken, lever 35 begins to move underthe action of weight 3''! and the arm 5'7 swings upwardly with the pawl65 engaged against one of the ratchet teeth on the ratchet wheel 69 andthe ratchet wheel is constantly in adjusted frictional engagement withthe brake discs '71.

In Fig. 5, I have illustrated by graphic chart in connection with adiagrammatic view of the arm 57 and friction check parts, thetheoretical and actual motions showing that if the opening motion of thepress was produced by true rotating motion, the friction check wouldhave a friction increase as the press opens, whereas the opening of thepress controlled by the toggle mechanism actually produces a decrease infriction as the press opens with a decided excess of friction at thestart. This provides or affords a decided advantage in checking thesudden release of pressure, as the momentum is impeded at the start ofthe opening of the press.

While I have shown the friction check in connection with a triple togglepressing machine system, I wish it to be understood that the same may beapplied to other arrangements of toggle mechanism wherein upward motionis imparted to the head upon breaking toggle joints in accordance withthe action of the levers and counterbalanced weights.

I claim:

1. In a garment pressing machine including a frame and a movablepressing element, a support for said element, actuating means for saidelement comprising a toggle having one of its links connected to theelement support, a bell crank lever pivoted to the frame intermediateits ends and connected to said toggle adjacent one end, a frictioncheck, a connection between said bell crank lever adjacent its other endand friction check, means for rotating said bell crank lever on itspivot, said friction check being operable by said bell crank andconnection to retard opening movement of said bell crank and elementsupport and inoperable during closing movement of said bell crank andelement sup port.

2. In a garment pressing machine including a frame, a pressing elementmovable thereon to open and closed position, a toggle for moving saidelement connected thereto, a bell crank lever for moving said toggleconnected thereto, said bell crank lever having a counterbalancingweight at one end, an extension on the other end of said bell crank, afriction check, means connecting said friction check and extension onthe bell crank, and means for rotating said bell crank lever and meansconnecting it to the friction check to operate said friction check, saidfriction check being operable to retard movement of said bell crank andpressing element only in the direction of opening movement under theaction of said counterbalancing weight.

3. In a garment pressing machine including a frame and a movablepressing element supported thereon, a toggle for moving said element toclosed position, a lever to actuate said toggle, a toggle for actuatingsaid lever and including pivotally connected links one of which ispivoted to the frame and the other to said lever, a pedal lever, and alink pivoted to said first link independently of said other link andalso pivotally connected to the pedal lever for movement thereby andrelative thereto when the pedal lever is moved, the pivotal connectionbetween the links of the second toggle being positioned relative to thepivotal connection between said last and first links for movementthereacross during opening and closing movements of the press.

4. The structure of claim 3 wherein the pivots connecting the links ofthe second toggle, first and last links, and last link and pedal levelrespectively are substantially in alinement at open position of thepress.

5. In a garment pressing machine including a frame and a movablepressing element, a lever supporting said element, a toggle operativelyconnected to said lever to move said element to open and closedpositions, a second lever operatively connected to said toggle, a secondtoggle having one member pivotally connected to said second lever andits other member pivotally connected to a fixed support adjacent itslower end and standing in substantially vertical position when theelement is in open position, the upper end of said other member beingpivotally connected to said first member, a pedal lever, and a linkpivotally connected thereto and to said other member, said lastconnection being at a point on said other member about which theconnection between said members of the second toggle will swing when thepedal lever is depressed.

6. In a garment pressing machine including a frame and a movablepressing element, a lever supporting said element, a toggle operativelyconnected to said lever to move said element to open and closedpositions, a second lever operatively connected to said toggle, a secondtoggle having one member pivotally connected to said second lever andits other member pivotally connected to a fixed support adjacent itslower end and standing in substantially vertical position when theelement is in open position, the upper end of said other member beingpivotally connected to said first member, a pedal lever, and a linkpivotally connected thereto and to said other member, said lastconnection being at a point on said other member substantially inalinement with the pivotal connection between the link and pedal leverand the connection between the members of said second toggle and aboutwhich the connection between said members of the second toggle willswing when the pedal lever is depressed.

7. In a garment pressing machine including a movable pressing elementsupport, a main toggle operatively connected to said support, a pedallever, a link connected at its lower end to said pedal lever, a secondtoggle having one of its members pivotally connected to the frame andalso connected to the other end of said link and disposed at openposition of the press in substantially upright position, the members ofsaid second toggle being pivotally connected at a point movable acrossthe points of connection of the link to the specified member of thesecond toggle during closing movement of the press, and means wherebythe straightening of said second toggle will straighten said firsttoggle and move said pressing element support to close the press.

8. In a garment pressing machine including a frame and having a movablepressing element support, a main toggle operativelyconnected thereto, asecond toggle having one link pivotally connected to the frame andstanding in upright position at open position of the press, the otherlink of said second toggle being pivotally connected to the first linkadjacent its upper end, a pedal lever, a link pivotally connected tosaid first link of the second toggle and to said pedal lever andinclined upwardly and toward the front of the frame and at an acuteangle to said pedal lever at open position of the press and beingsubstantially at right angles to the pedal lever at closed position ofthe press, and means whereby 20 straightening of said second togglewillstraighten said first toggle and close the press.

HERBERT G. BEEDE.

